The present invention relates generally to relatively small ice packs intended for single patient use.
Single patient ice packs are generally known in the art. One such ice pack is manufactured and sold by Tecnol Medical Products, Inc. and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,848. These ice packs are particularly designed for application of xe2x80x9ccoldxe2x80x9d locally at particular points on the body.
Because of their size, these smaller ice packs typically have small openings. The openings are also limited in size due to the difficulty of making a water tight seal across a larger opening. The small openings are, however, troublesome in certain other respects. For example, these ice packs are typically filled from an automatic ice machine or from a scoop from an ice bin. The relatively small opening tends to make the filling operation difficult. A larger opening would be beneficial and render the ice packs more xe2x80x9cuser friendly.xe2x80x9d However, it is more difficult to provide a water tight seal to such a larger opening.
With the conventional ice packs, such as the ice pack described in the ""848 patent cited above, a closure clip is provided for sealing the opening of the ice pack. A larger clip could be provided to seal a larger opening, however, at some length, the larger clips become cost prohibitive and physically uncomfortable to patients.
Accordingly, the industry would benefit from a small, single patient ice pack having the benefits of a large opening without the sealing problems associated with such a large opening.
Objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
In accordance with the invention, an ice pack, such as a relatively small single patient use ice pack, is provided. In one embodiment, the ice pack includes an elongated bag member defined by opposite side panels. The panels are sealed generally along the longitudinal edges thereof and at a first end thereof. The panels are open at the opposite end to define the opening for the bag. This opening is used to introduce ice into the bag member. The opening is xe2x80x9cdefinedxe2x80x9d or established by an operator pulling the side panels apart in proximity of the open end. In order to provide a larger effective cross-sectional area for the opening upon pulling the side panels apart, a portion of at least one of the side panels generally adjacent to the open end is expandable from a first width defined between the sealed edges to an increased width without actually increasing the distance between the longitudinally edges.
In a particularly useful embodiment, the expandable portion of the side panel includes a longitudinally extending expandable structure defined in the side panel such that the side panel expands essentially only along the expandable structure. For example, the expandable structure may include a longitudinally extending gathering of material that forms the side panel. This xe2x80x9cgatheringxe2x80x9d may, for example, include a longitudinally extending fold or pleat line. This fold line may include multiple folds of the material.
For ease of manufacture of an ice pack according to the invention, the longitudinally extending expandable structure may have an effective length less than the full longitudinal length of the side panel. For example, in one embodiment, the longitudinally extending structure may comprise a longitudinally extending gathering of material, such as a fold line, that extends generally along the full longitudinal length of the panel but is sealed from the first sealed end to a position near the opening in the bag member. The unsealed length thus defines the effective length of the longitudinally extending expandable structure.
In another embodiment according to the invention, each of the side panels may include the expandable portion. For example, each of the side panels may include the expandable gathering of material or fold line.
It should be appreciated that an ice pack made according to the present invention may include any desired feature from conventional ice packs. For example, the ice pack may also include tie members that extend longitudinally from each of the ends of the bag member, as described in the ""848 patent.
It should also be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to any particular type of material or method of manufacture. For example, the expandable portion or structure can be defined in any conventional bag material, including the materials described in the ""848 patent.
The invention will be described in greater detail below through use of the appended figures.